Chimneysweep
"It’s not so bad when yer climbing up. It’s the getting stuck bit I don’t much like." Basic (FoN) In towns and cities throughout the Empire, households that can afford to do so burn charcoal to ward off the chill of winter. Many industries also make extensive use of charcoal, in particular the forges of Nuln. Heavy use clogs chimneys with soot, resulting in an increased demand for chimney sweeps. A good many of these workers are children, but many are halflings and particularly thin men. Working on the rooftops, they scrub out the chimneys to clear blockages – usually soot, but sometimes, far stranger things. Note: If you are rolling randomly for your Starting Career, you can substitute Chimneysweep for Charcoal Burner with your GM’s permission. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Common Knowledge (the Empire), Consume Alcohol, Gossip, Haggle, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface, Search, Silent Move Talents: Contortionist or Very Strong, Streetwise Trappings: Brush, Grappling Hook, 10 Yards of Rope Career Entries Charcoal Burner, Miner, Peasant, Rogue, Thief Career Exits Cat Burglar, Mercenary, Militiaman, Protagonist, Rat Catcher A Sweep’s Life Chimneysweeps, or sweeps as they call themselves, often work in pairs; one feeding the brush into the chimney from the hearth, while his partner shimmies up the chimney cleaning out soot deposits. Human sweeps employ a child apprentice, normally taken from an orphanage at the age of five. Halfling sweeps take it in turns to do the dirty work. Their agility means they can do the job in a far shorter time than a human child, and so are often preferred. The work is gruelling, with countless hours spent wriggling in sooty darkness. Sweeps often suffer from skin and breathing ailments, and frequently burn themselves while climbing still-hot chimneys. Child apprentices suffer the worst. Their masters takes the lion’s share of the earnings, paying the apprentice with a few scraps of food, small compensation for the risks they face. When an apprentice gets too big to climb up inside the chimneys, he is quickly replaced by a younger boy and left to fend for himself. Most sweeps travel from town to town looking for work, especially in the summer months, when work may be meagre and a master may force his apprentice to go begging. Some unscrupulous masters encourage their apprentices to sneak into rooms through the fireplace and pilfer objects from the homes they service. If the boy is caught, the master sweep can lay all the blame on him – it is easy enough to replace an arrested apprentice. Lucky Omens Among urban folk throughout the Empire, it is generally considered a good omen to meet a sweep first thing in the morning, as ancient superstitions ties soot and ash to rebirth and fertility. This has led to the bizarre ritual of some sweeps hiring themselves out to attend weddings early in the morning to bring good fortune to the union. At the marriage of a poor couple, a sweep can expect a free meal, but at the extravagant weddings of the nobility, he can earn the equivalent of a week’s wages. Sweeps often come to blows to be the first to present themselves to the bride’s father before the wedding starts.